Rotterdam football club Feyenoord put one foot in the final of the Conference League on Thursday evening by beating Olympic Marseille 3-2 in the first semi-final leg.

The Rotterdammers took an early 2-0 lead, only for Marseille to claw the score back to 2-2, all in the first half.

Cyriel Dessers, who scored the first goal, then put away the third as soon as the second half started and almost made it a hat trick in the 76^th minute.

Uefa commentator Derek Brookman described the result as ‘superb’.

‘They looked somewhat rattled when Marseille cancelled out their two-goal lead, but that man Dessers did the business again seconds after the restart, and they didn’t give too much away thereafter,’ he said. ‘They will surely travel to France next week with plenty of confidence.’

In the other semi final in the new third tier of European competition, Leicester and Roma drew 1-1.

Watch the highlights